| |
The first concert of the Mariinsky Orchestra at Koerner Hall, the new hall of the Royal Conservatory, was a veritable eye-opener for the Canadian public. “(Valery) Gergiev is a take-no-prisoners kind of conductor, an artist confident in his ability to create and shape power out of music – a power of contrast, drama, intensity and control. A Gergiev concert is like a military campaign, with each phrase plotted for its maximum expressive value. Nothing seems left to chance, or to whimsical spontaneity. The result is not unmusical – in fact, many find it superbly musical” (Robert Harris, Globe and Mail). The maestro proved himself to be a true genius where instrumental drama is concerned, stunning audiences not just by highlighting the tragic aspects of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Dmitry Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony, but also in Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, which the conductor read from the standpoint of the great Russian composer’s late symphonies.
“With a minimum range of gestures, Gergiev turned the concert into a study in intensity that ranged from pillowy whispers to sharp-edged lashes of sound. (…) Gergiev not only expertly built and released tension, he helped his players deliver sound that had the balance and clarity of a fine choir; one could clearly make out individual string parts throughout the performance” (John Terauds, The Star).
Despite the fact that the flight from Canada to the USA was delayed because of the extreme weather conditions and maestro Gergiev and thirty musicians were only able to arrive in Detroit literally an hour and a half before the start of the concert in the university town of Ann Arbor (Michigan), the Mariinsky Orchestra’s performance still took place and was a roaring success. Representatives of the concert’s organisers took the decision to delay this highly anticipated event by half an hour so that the performers could get to the venue. The audience was fully recompensed for the unexpected delay, the late start having no affect on the quality of these acclaimed musicians’ performance.
“For an orchestra that should have been breathless from its hasty unpacking, the playing all evening was unruffled in all the good ways – and stirring in all the good ways, too” (Susan Isaacs Nisbett).
Under the baton of Valery Gergiev the Mariinsky Orchestra delighted the audience not just with their infectious energy in their interpretation of Stravinsky’s masterpiece but also with their dazzling performance of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Dmitry Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto (soloists – Denis Matsuev (piano) and Timur Martynov (trumpet)).
“In the Strauss tone poem, Gergiev emphasized both the sweep and the structure of the hero’s journey. The playing was plush but not overly so, and the textures were always clear, highlighting Strauss’s motivic transformations. Principal violinist Roman Simovich’s silken playing as “The Hero’s Companion” was wonderfully sensual.”
“In the Shostakovich (concerto), Matsuev led the merry, manic chase at the keyboard, abetted by the orchestra and by trumpeter Martynov.”
“So is it wild? Are its rhythms pounding and elemental and exciting? To be sure. They were all that in this performance. But somehow what triumphed was the organized nature, the inexorable progression, of this rite. And that was spellbinding.”
Following performances in Newark at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, due to the increasing power of the storm the organisers once again decided to amend the tour schedule to meet their concert obligations. In order to make sure the next two events – two evening concerts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – could take place, the Mariinsky Orchestra flew out of Newark sixteen hours earlier than planned. Nevertheless, a meeting with the young German composer Matthias Pintscher had to be cancelled; he had planned a musical “tribute” to mark one hundred years of Le Sacre du printemps featuring his own Chute d’Étoiles, which was to precede the concert.
|
